'Feed Me Better' is the name of the
campaign run by TV chef, Jamie
Oliver, to improve eating habits in
British schools. Jamie is popular with
young people all over Britain because
of his cookery programmes. His
ingredients are fresh, his recipes are
simple, and his meals are absolutely
delicious.
So when he found out what Britain's
schoolchildren were eating at school,
he went on the warpath. He
discovered that school dinners centred
around processed food, chips and
burgers, and that children were
incapable of recognising basic
vegetables. So Jamie resolved to do
something about it.
He decided to make a TV series called
Jamie's School Dinners which showed
the successes and failures of his
attempt to improve the dinner menu
of a school in Greenwich, London. He
was assisted by the school dinner lady,
Nora Sands, who was keen to learn
how to give the children a more
balanced meal while not exceeding her
budget.
At the same time as the programmes
were being filmed, Jamie ran a
national campaign called 'Feed Me
Better' to bring the state of the nation's
school dinners to the attention of the
government.
As a result of the 300,000-signature
petition that Jamie presented to Prime
Minister Tony Blair in the spring of
2005, new legislation was brought in to
control school dinners. Now children
are promised two pieces of fruit with
their meal, and fizzy drinks, sweets,
chocolate and crisps are banned.
Jamie Oliver has shown that it is
possible to do something positive for
Britain's schoolchildren instead of just
using them to make money.